Mexican Investment in the United States: Jobs, Regional Presence, and Economic Growth

 Speakers:

• Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of Economy of Mexico
• Juan Pablo del Valle, Chairman of the Board, Orbia 
• Daniel Servitje, Executive Chair, Grupo Bimbo 
• Arturo Gutiérrez Hernández, Chief Executive Officer, Arca Continental 
• Fernando Villanueva, CEO, DEACERO USA 
• Luis Alberto Moreno, Managing Director, Allen & Co. (moderator)
• Luis de la Calle, CEO and Founding Partner, De la Calle, Madrazo, Mancera (CMM)
• Susan Segal, President and CEO, Americas Society Council of the Americas 

On April 3, Council of the Americas hosted CEOs of leading Mexican companies, as well as private- and public-sector leaders, to discuss the importance of Mexican investment in the United States for key industries in North America’s economy.  

The event started with a presentation by Luis de la Calle, CEO and founding partner of De la Calle, Madrazo, Mancera (CMM), about the volume of Mexican investment in the United States, which has been north of $5 billion per year for the last four years. “The U.S. economy is 20 times the size of the Mexican economy, but the U.S. investment into Mexico is only three times [the Mexican investment into the United States]. Why? Because Mexico is investing in the U.S. in a proportion higher than our market share,” de la Calle explained.

The day before the event, April 2, the Trump administration announced the countries on which it is imposing reciprocal tariffs. Canada and Mexico were not among the 185 countries with new tariffs applied. “The absence of that list reflects the level of integration between Mexico, the U.S., and Canada, on goods, on services, on people, and on investment,” said de la Calle.

Mexican Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard joined the event as the closing keynote speaker. Ebrard, who has been traveling to Washington and leading negotiations with the U.S. government, said he had “a more optimistic point of view than maybe two weeks ago.” He explained that Mexico will undertake negotiations with the United States in the following weeks on car parts, steel, and aluminum. He emphasized that maintaining and preserving the USMCA was Mexico’s most important objective. “North America is going to be more and more important,” he said, calling for the continuation of dialogue on the opportunities. “You see in the reciprocal tariffs the revival of the North American region.”

Before that, a panel moderated by Luis Alberto Moreno, managing director of Allen & Co., gathered CEOs of top Mexican companies. The CEOs spoke about their current and potential future investments across the United States, highlighting the major two-way investment and deep integration that exist between the two North American neighbors.

Daniel Servitje, executive chair of Grupo Bimbo, explained the scope of his company’s operations in the North American market. “Close to 79 percent of our revenues are coming from these three countries. If we exclude Mexico, 46 percent of our revenues are from the U.S. and Canada. For us, the number one country in terms of revenues is the USA, where we have operations basically almost in all states.” He also highlighted that the group is the largest Mexican employer in the United States, with more than 23,000 associates and independent business owners who work with the company.

“ We right now operate with this binational mindset,” said Fernando Villanueva, CEO of DEACERO USA. “Our steel is probably a hundred percent truly North American steel.” He spoke about the more than 60 facilities the company has between Mexico and the United States. This includes recycling facilities in Mexico, where they are the largest recycler of steel scrap, as well as in the states of California and Texas.

Moreno later asked about the co-production of goods between the United States and Mexico, and the opportunities that arise from this interconnectedness. “ We have assets that if we isolate them, their value is close to zero. If we combine them, you multiply the value by a big multiple,” Juan Pablo del Valle, chairman of the Board of Orbia, said. He gave several examples of this, including the mineral fluorspar, which he explained is extracted and converted in San Potosí, Mexico, and then sent to Louisiana, United States for manufacturing. “This is much more than a trade relationship. This is a capital relationship that has to do much more with the balance sheet. Our assets together are worth much more than if isolated,” he explained.

Arturo Gutiérrez Hernández, CEO of Arca Continental, gave examples of his company’s operational integration between the neighbors, including its initiative for the circular economy of plastic. “We collect the U.S. used bottles, which is basically waste of very low quality that for technical reasons cannot be processed in the U.S., we ship it back to Mexico and we recycle that at our Toluca plant in Mexico… And we ship that back to the United States to be used in our plastic packaging, so that those products have a high content of recycled [plastic]. So this creates a very interesting cycle that has a very positive, also environmental impact.”

• Learn more about COA's activities focused on Mexico.